Tuesday 2^nd August

Neither of us slept much. Whether we were worried about the alarm not going off at 6:15am or jet lag from our Frankfurt leg or excitement, who knows. However, once up, things went smoothly from the hotel to taxi to airport. Our taxi driver took us to Changi Airport via a different route. This was mainly through an area of light industry yet it was still lined with trees and gardens.

At Changi, we had a muffin and tea to tie us over until we got our airline food but were unable to get the scarf I was looking for. The colour and style had changed and the silk ones were too expensive considering how little I wear scarves. We decided to pick up some perfume and a super-large chocolate for our son at Sydney Duty Free instead. It saves a lot of carrying.

What continued to surprise us was the way people ignore the regulations for on-board luggage. They remind you before boarding that you are only allowed only 1 bag and it is to be under 7kg. However, a lot of people on every flight had way over this. Ours was heavier than it should be but that was nothing compared to some people. One couple had two bags each. It was a bit of a problem on the last leg as 2 people got to their seats only to find less than a third of their overhead compartment was free for luggage. Others had bags that should have gone in the overhead compartment but had them at their feet. When the hostess told them it had to go under the seats in front, they tucked in one edge, as that was all that would fit. The hostesses move through so quickly that they just presume that people will follow their instructions without actually checking that they do!

We did manage to get a different menu but no bed socks! Most people were trying to snooze because of the early morning take off (9.25am) and were huddled under their blankets for warmth, without their free bed socks. The problem with a day flight is too much food and drink really so that there is always a queue for the toilet especially when one of ours was closed as the sink was blocked. This time, I kept my shoes on!

Unfortunately, Charade was not on the list of classic movies as we had a different aircraft and so, when I finished my book, I started watching a new movie from the book by Michael Connelly, an airport thriller, The Lincoln Lawyer, turned into a movie. It was a little annoying as I have been reading several of his where the detective, Micky Haller, is the main character. They changed it a little to allow for a more intimate relationship with his ex-wife, which didn’t gel with me and then I ran out of time again! I had judged that there was enough time to watch it but didn’t allow for all the in flight announcements that kept stopping the film. So that’s two videos to borrow from the video rental shop!

We disembarked and went to immigration. Despite the announcement on board and the signs up everywhere, one young Asian lass whips out her mobile phone and starts talking. I pointed to the sign that states there is a $1,000 fine for doing this before you exit the terminal and she thinks I am telling her to go to another line. We had to follow her and explain the signage. She got back in our line. Then we noticed she had a Japanese passport and was in the queue clearly signposted as “Australian and New Zealand passport holders only”. Some people should not be let out alone!

Quarantine was a non-event for us and the man waved us through to the exit and we were quickly aboard a taxi for home. Now our taxi driver was Australian and had to chat. It was so nice to come home to a chatty person. Every taxi driver we had overseas was reluctant, or refused, to speak to us. Still, it was an expensive ride. Our Singapore taxi cost $S20, our Sydney $A64! This is the disadvantage of such a spread out city as Sydney but at least we have a good –sized garden and live in a house, not a flat.

Everything was fine at the house but our son had been home to have showers before going on to church. They were cold ones as we had turned off the hot water system and he did not know how to rectify the problem. There were towels lying about and some uneaten chocolate biscuits in a sealed container on the floor so we knew the signs. In addition, the house was so cold and damp. It took several hours before the electric blanket warmed up my bed sufficiently for me to sleep. Still, it was good to be home.

Our trip had been great giving us a fabulous opportunity to see some beautiful and amazing sights. We have been very fortunate to have had three ‘trips of a lifetime’. Of course, we saved hard for them and went without other things people enjoy but still most of the world has not had the opportunity to see so much of other cultures and God’s magnificent scenery.

Now for the awards:

Best hotel we stayed at– Adina, Frankfurt

Worst hotel – Royal at Queens, Singapore – not recommended

Best camping ground – Siena

Best region – the Dolomites

Least interesting region – northern Black Forest in Germany

Best road – the Grossglockner, Austria

Best food – France

Best bread – Germany

McRent, Friedberg – not recommended. They are unreliable, and our van was not ready when they said it would be. The van was very poorly equipped and we had to buy a lot of things we had to leave behind so they got them for free. The pillows they gave us were unusable as they were old and very lumpy from frequent washing. We were only given 1 pillowslip (They blamed the laundry service as they do not check what linen is given to you.). We were forced to buy two expensive pillows with pillowcases to suit. They directed us to a difficult first night campground much further away than they led us to believe. At the end, they refused to refund the money we spent on replacing the side mirror neither would they include it in our insurance excess. David is in a battle with them to get a written statement to say they did not pay for the mirror, as the receipt we have for it is addressed to McRent, but we paid it. Suzanne, whom we dealt with was very nice, but Klaus was difficult and obviously the guy who puts the pressure on you at the end. He was not pleasant and his English is not good. Furthermore, the centre is inconvenient, it was moved from Offenbach near Frankfurt after we contracted to hire form them. It is a 50E plus taxi ride from Frankfurt or you have to get the train from Frankfurt to Friedberg, cart your luggage up and down stairs to get out of the station there and then get a taxi. This does not compare favourably with the service we got from van hiring in the UK, NZ and Canada. We would not rent from them again and neither would we recommend them to anyone – in fact, the reverse.

It is good to be home. Besides a chance to stop and rest, there’s a big fridge (you shop once a week not every three days), a large top loading washing machine (you wash once a week instead of every day) and I know where to find things in a quality, well-stocked supermarket! Of course, there is the down side of housework and house maintenance! David now has the task of sorting through and editing our 10,000 photos! Hopefully, they will keep him busy until we take off in our caravan somewhere in Australia after next Easter.

Monday 1^st August

I believe, I should start by wishing all horses a happy birthday and all Aussie bankers a good day off! (My dad was a banker.)

I slept badly once again. This time it wasn’t the noisy a/c but my aching knees from all that walking. I woke about 1am and took painkillers but didn’t really get off to sleep again, just dozed as the pain seem to come and go. I pushed myself awake and out of a bad dream about 9:45 when David asked when I was going to get up. He was showered and dressed.

We trotted back to The Coffee Bean for our cheap breakfast. This time they did have English Breakfast tea but gave us green tea instead. We asked for it to be changed but even then their EB was nothing like Twinings and I would have preferred the teabag I carried in my handbag for emergencies. The toast was soggy as they had flooded my plate with salad dressing and the roll was sitting in it! Still, we got the 2 for 1 deal again and I was satisfied enough to last out for lunch.

David set off in search of a flash for his Nikon camera and I went to seek out some craft shops in the Singapura Plaza just past our hotel. We had searched the Internet for the craft shops before we left Sydney so I knew what I was looking for. Singapore is a mass of shopping centres. If you don’t want to shop there is not much point in being here, except to rest your back from too long in a plane! Actually, we have allowed far too much time here and in Frankfurt. We should have only allowed one night in Frankfurt and a maximum of two here for our return. We are tired and ready for home and there isn’t much to do that we have not already done and, furthermore, we aren’t really into shopping for things we can get just as cheaply at home.

The craft stores in the Singapura Plaza, for example, have smaller ranges and more expensive prices than my craft shops in Sydney. Rhinestones, which in Sydney I get  for $A2.99 are $S8.99! Still, they did have some unusual items that interested me but not at their prices. I found one craft book I would have liked but, at $S55, it wasn’t worth it. I was able to buy a few scrapbooking papers for about the price I pay at home and they were different brands to the ones usually stocked by my suppliers. I was hoping to get a craft sheet cheap, but they were still over $S35, and I can get them much cheaper from the US via the Internet. So it looks like I’ll be online soon after my return to get some craft sheets, pads, inkers and paints. In Australia, they sell the pads but you can’t buy the matching inkers so when they dry out you have to throw out the expensive pads. Some craft people re-ink their pads weekly!

Nevertheless, I liked this shopping centre. It wasn’t as poky and tortuous as many as you enter into a large central courtyard with the shops surrounding it on five levels. The shops are modern and attractive and to have Spotlight and two crafts store in one building is a bonus. What is more, not once was I pressured into looking at something I was not interested in. In fact, I could have been shopping at home. You were left in peace until you got to the counter with your purchases.

I met an Australian woman and her toddler in one craft shop. The poor child was grizzling and unhappy. His poor mother shrugged and said he just woke up that way and hadn’t improved. I began chatting to the child and he immediately beamed back at me and giggled. Within a couple of seconds he was all smiles and charm. I have never met a toddler with such personality. Even after we had parted, he kept checking me out and, if he caught my eye, would laugh and his eyes twinkle at me. I can’t say I have ever had such a positive effect on a child. They usually cry!

David was waiting for me, empty handed, back at the hotel and we set off for lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant on few floors below The Coffee Bean. What attracted us to this shop was its unusual concept. On arrival, you are given a magnetic card onto which your purchases are added as you chose between Turkish, Greek/Italian, Spanish, Moroccan and French dishes. There were salads, deserts and drink stations as well. When you have ordered your main dish, they give you an alarm and you go to the table and wait for your items to be cooked and come back to pick them up. Each table had some smooth pebbles on them. On one side was painted “Free” and on the other “In use”, so you could set up your table and leave it to collect your items without the waitress clearing it. The servings are small but adequate for lunch. David chose seafood paella and I a Turkish lamb dish and we shared these with a small salad. This with 2 small fresh orange juices came to $S35:30, which wasn’t cheap, but at least we only paid 7% GST and no service charge!

We hate all these added charges; they have them in the US too and you feel that you are being tricked into paying more than you planned. It is really annoying having to work out the real cost of things by adding 17%. The Australian system is much better – no surcharges and no tips. Nevertheless, it was an interesting experience. You present your magnetic cards at the checkout and pay as you leave.

We kept busy reading and blogging until afternoon teatime when we treated ourselves to tea and cake in the restaurant downstairs off the main lobby. Then, we worked it off by having a good swim in the hotel pool. It is much nicer than the one at Royal Queens and was a lovely temperature. Actually, we looked a little silly walking to the lifts in our white waffle-weave bathrobes and slippers supplied by the hotel. One size does not fit all, especially little old ladies like me. We must have looked strange to those in the lobby eyeing us off in the glass lifts! Still, we weren’t the only ones there in our robes. On arrival you are presented with bath towels and, while we swam, we watched them set up the buffet tables we couldn’t find yesterday as we toured the hotel. It turns out that it is a buffet dinner, not lunch, and held nightly during the feast of Ramadan. The decorations caught my eye. Ribbons of various colours and widths was woven into rectangular box shapes of varying sizes and hung from the ceiling. I could not make up my mind whether I liked them or not. Certainly, the ones in clusters of different sizes, and using ribbons of toning colours with some gold or silver, looked the best.

After a shower and much debate, we opted for a one course dinner, not the seafood buffet, although David did have a full lobster thermidor for $S29++ which was good value and very nice. We stuck with the expensive house wine, as the other drinks were not much cheaper. Water, was again particularly expensive, for water.

And now we are packing and charging up our computers in case we wish to use them on board tomorrow. I am trying to dry our swimmers using the hotel’s hairdryer! Our flight leaves at 9:25 am so we will get up early, dress and then check out. We’ll grab some breakfast at the airport as I am always more relaxed if we are not rushed through traffic and then security. Besides, I need another novel for the plane and will check out the duty free but only as far as our spare Singapore dollars will allow. Let’s hope boarding and landing with SA this time goes more smoothly. We’d also like a change of menu as we have had the same thing each flight if our memory serves us correctly. This time I also hope I remember to say no to their terrible peanuts (handed out before take off) and ice creams (dessert for the main meals!). I need to watch the last half of the old movie Charade with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant that I started watching from Frankfurt. We enjoyed watching it many years ago and, even though I know the ending, I do like both the actors and the comedic lines. Audrey is so elegant and Cary – such a smoothie!

Sunday 31^st July

We didn’t sleep much, what with the noisy a/c and the time difference so we were up just after 5am having a cuppa. Then back to bed we went until after 10am, still sleeping restlessly. There isn’t much point in being up before then as shops generally don’t open until 11am and stay open until late.

You see, Singapore is all about spending money especially through shopping. As workers starting between 8 and 9 can’t shop, you have to have the shops open for hours after they finish work. Many shops appear to stay open until well after 9pm.

Not wanting to pay the exorbitant price of a breakfast here, we wandered off to The Coffee Bean, a shop we found in our wanderings last night. It offered a breakfast with scrambled egg, pork sausages and toast with jam cheaply. In fact, it turned out to be even cheaper than we thought as we got a 2 for the price of 1 deal as well. So our breakfast total was under $S8, that’s a lot cheaper than $S52 here at the hotel. Of course, it was nothing to rave about. They didn’t have English Breakfast tea; they had run out. So we got Ceylon but it was highly fragrant and so I haven’t a clue what it really was as there is no label on the teabag distinguishing the type. I do not like such teas and even David wasn’t fussed about it. The toast was a bread roll halved and toasted and, strangely, a salad with dressing was served on the side! David does not like dressing! Still, it was filling enough and David was willing to go back tomorrow provided we got English Breakfast tea or used our own teabags. (We always buy extra teabags when we arrive at a hotel, as we get sick of asking for more. They presume everyone drinks coffee and only provide two teabags.)

Then it was off on the Singapore Airlines Hop on Hop off bus to the Singapore Flyer. Of course, we just missed a bus and had to wait almost a half hour for the next one. Still, when we got to the Flyer, everyone else must have been having lunch as we got a capsule all to ourselves, which was very nice and convenient. As the capsule goes up and over the giant ferris wheel, we could wander around freely taking any pictures we wanted although the glass/Perspex was, of course, dirty! This is a bit annoying as you pay $S25 each to go up for about 30 mins. You get an excellent view from the top although the weather was still cloudy. What particularly struck us was the hundreds of boats / ships in the harbour and there must have been lots more as we could not see all the wharves because of the skyscrapers. No wonder the Japanese wanted Singapore in WWII! The ships we could see were just those waiting their turns to unload. Immediately around the Flyer there is a lot of messy construction work associated with the F1 track and the Gardens by the Bay area, which is on the other side of the Singapore River. One large trumpet shaped structures surrounded by several smaller ones intrigued us. All we could think of was that they would have shooting fire coming out of their tops when completed. I guess that if this is the case then they would complement Singapore’s nightly neon and fireworks display. Not that the locals seem to take any notice. I saw the neons flashing about on the fronts of some of the buildings last night but the Singaporeans were walking about below without an upward glance.

Underneath the Flyer is a tropical garden with a fishpond surrounded by places to eat so we walked around it twice trying to select where to eat. The fish place was too expensive, the outside “Beach Bar” was deserted (not a good sign) and the locals were all eating cheap and unattractive noodles smothered in sauce. We ended up at the American chain of O’Leary’s where David had a hamburger (minus the pickles, of course) and I had fish and chips with coleslaw. Cost wise, it was somewhere in the middle of the options available. Then it was wait again for the Hop on Hop off bus as we had just missed one!

This time we got off near Chinatown and spent a couple of hours walking the streets, reading the historical signs and not buying anything. The narrow side streets were crammed with stalls and pushy salespeople. Unfortunately, we are not used to this and do not like to bargain etc; it just puts us off. Besides, there was nothing much worth buying, juts more junk and appalling colour combinations. Our baggage was just below our 40kg limit from Frankfurt so we cannot afford to buy much until we get to Sydney’s Duty Free.

In addition, I have to say that we are disappointed in Singapore as a shopping centre. Goods seem to be as dear or dearer than Sydney and / or Frankfurt. I have my eye on a Danish watch. It is cheaper in Frankfurt than here.

Around Chinatown there are several temples. The Hindu temple charges entry plus extra to take photographs. It would have cost us $S12 to go in! We didn’t. The Buddhist temple was free but the priests were conducting some sort of ceremony inside and the wailing and smell of incense kept us out. People were lighting incense sticks and bowed with them in all directions. Once more we felt the relief and freedom of being Protestant Christians. Along the sidewalks in several areas, people were lighting candles and burning paper. I am pretty sure the paper was pretend money and we saw a couple of stalls selling it. The burners did not seem to care where they lit their candles and left their offerings. Most were in the gutter and we saw a poor workman going around trying to sweep away the debris. In another place, they lit the candles right up against Peace Lilies planted along the footpath setting fire to and scorching the plants.

It was time to head back to the hotel but, guess what, we had just missed the Hop on Hop off bus, yet again! So we pondered the situation and decided we could walk back in less time as the bus route necessitated the bus travelling right out to the Botanic Gardens and back before getting near our hotel. So walk we did. It took about 40 minutes, saving us about 20, but in the heat we were tired and hot even though we walked on the shady side of the street. Our consolation was that we should sleep well tonight.

We opted for dinner in the hotel and just 1 course to keep the cost down. The restaurant was very nice, continuing the black and white theme, and we found courses within an acceptable price range. However, the wine is very expensive here. It cost $S24 plus 17% charges for two small glasses of house white wine. In Europe, we could have bought three whole bottles or more of much better wine for the same price. It rather made our less expensive dinner, expensive.

We could have eaten from the buffet here instead. For $S47 plus 17% charges you can have an eat all you want seafood buffet which is much cheaper than home. They even cook crab with the sauce of your choice for you as requested in that price. We are thinking about it for the final main meal of our holiday tomorrow night. The problem with such a buffet is that you eat far too much and then, besides putting on weight, you don’t sleep well. There were only a few tables eating form the buffet so the wastage must have been huge as well.

It is about 11pm and time for bed.

Saturday 30^th July

I hate night flights! I took a sleeping pill but all it did was make me too groggy to watch a movie and not tired enough to overcome the crying child, cramped legroom and narrow seats. I think in future, I’ll opt for the seats near the emergency exits where you have more legroom and your TV screen is at a lower level more suited to bifocals. Still, I think, probably in my state, the time flew by more quickly than a daytime flight. However, I do wish they could somehow manage separate toilets for males on these flights. Everyone is in stocking feet and you get to the toilets and the males have missed their target! This is not pleasant. Another time, I groggily waited my turn for about 10 minutes only to find the hostess had been inside grooming herself. No one could see her in the darkness anyway!

Landing at Changi Airport was not a pleasant experience. In fact, it was the second worst landing I have ever had in a plane. The pilot came in too fast and had to slam on the brakes. So we crashed into the tarmac several times and began to swerve off the runway. Luckily, he managed to correct our path with another swerve – not good. I hope someone on the crew or in the control tower speaks to the pilot.

By the time we were ready to leave the airport the queue for the taxis was long and no taxis seemed to be about. It turned out that today was practice day for the national day celebrations. It is nearly 46 years since Singapore became an independent country. The traffic was heavy near the city centre. So we decided to get the shuttle. We only had a 10-minute wait and the shuttle arrived but as we were leaving, we noticed the taxi queue had vanished! The taxis had obviously all arrived at once. Naturally, we were the last of the 4 couples aboard the shuttle to be delivered to our hotel. Still, this time we knew where we were going and the gardens along the route are attractive.

The Concorde Hotel in Singapore is, quite simply put, weird. After being driven to the impressive front doors of 2 other hotels (Forget the Ibis.), we were delivered to the back door of ours via the underground car park! You only get a front door treatment if you are wealthy enough to arrive in a taxi! In fact, even pedestrians can’t get access straight off the street into the foyer. First, you have to go down a few steps into a narrow alley in front of some small, unimpressive shops. Then you go up a flight of steps to a desk and are directed to the right passed more small, unattractive shops, into a corridor that houses the lifts. You go up one more level and get out of those lifts and you are to the side of reception. To get to your room, you have to go back to the lift lobby and go up in a different set of lifts, glass lifts. It is a mess.

From this, you are thinking that this hotel must be appalling! In fact, it is very swish and expensive. The rooms start at nearly $S500 a night although, because we booked a long time in advance and over the Internet, we are paying less than $S300 a night. Naturally, they tried to get us to upgrade by telling us we would get free Internet etc etc but we did not bother. Having come in via the underground car park, carrying our own luggage in what appeared to be a service lift without any porter to assist, we were not convinced we would even like the place enough to stay 3 nights. We did receive a complementary fruit juice while we registered but nothing is cheap about this place. Breakfast is $S26 a head plus GST plus a 10% service charge. (Consequently, we don’t tip anyone!)

We rather miss our Frankfurt hotel. There breakfast was only 8.50E and you got more to eat. Here we have two rooms not 3. There is no lounge here so there is only I chair and an armchair to fight over. The a/c is noisy and if you turn it off, you cannot open a window. I guess, with all this heat and humidity, you need it on anyway but it makes it hard to sleep at night. In Frankfurt we could open 2 windows and a door onto a little balcony. However, the room is larger than at the Royal Queen here where we stayed on our flight in from Australian in April and the view is better. We can see trees and have a pleasant outlook.

It was dinnertime by the time we got settled into our room and we went searching for dinner; we needed the walk. We did not want to spend a lot at the hotel restaurant. So we found a street stall area and picked a small meal of rice and meat (duck & pork) each and got Taiwanese black tea from a stand across the side street. Never again! The picture displaying the food is not what you get. What we got tasted okay but it was dumped on the plate and much less meat was covered with a little brown sauce. By this time, after weeks in Germany and Austria, we are rather sick of seeing unappetising food lacking vegetables. And Taiwanese black tea is not for us.

We wandered about the hotel familiarising ourselves with its features but still at a loss about the poolside restaurant that supposedly has a lunchtime buffet. All we could find was a small bar area and the pool closed at 8pm, which is ridiculously early given this heat.

And so to bed.

Friday 29^th July

Well, another day to fill in until our flight at 10pm. We had planned a visit to the State Art Gallery where they have Durer, Matisse and Picasso paintings to name a few. However, we were disappointed as the gallery closed on 26^th until October for renovation! This means the two major galleries / museums in Frankfurt are both out of action at the same time – not good. Instead, we opted to avoid the shops and the numerous other museums (not at many as Nuremberg – no one could have as many as Nuremberg) and go to the Botanic Gardens.

This meant train travel in the underground but we soon managed to work out the station name, line etc although train travel here is relatively expensive. It is 2.10E for any station in the metropolitan zone so as we were only going three or so stations this mounts up. Once out of the station, David was convinced we were going in the wrong direction so we did an about face and walked up the western side of the Palmgarten. When we got to an entrance, it was closed with a sign saying it was only open on the weekends and public holidays but entry would be 5E. We therefore, presumed that the Palmgarten must have been a private garden next to the botanic gardens. (In Sydney we are so fortunate to have free access to our gardens and art gallery etc.) So we continued up the western side looking for another entrance. We came across one, although it looked a bit scruffy, and entered. The plan now was to walk from the northern end back to the southern end and back to the underground. By the time we reached the southern end, it was obvious that the Palmgarten was the botanic gardens and everyone had to pay to get in. We had come in the tradesman’s entrance! Explaining all this to the ticket office was going to be difficult so we gave it a miss. It seems so strange to us that basically there is only one entrance into gardens, and with the cost, this so isolates the residents from their public spaces. However, we did opt to have lunch in the garden’s restaurant so we did make a financial contribution but more of this later.

The gardens contained areas of great interest, unusual aspects and so areas of neglect. We were fascinated by a wonderful display of dahlias. A distant cousin in the UK was a dahlia breeder and judge and you could see why these plants fascinated him. I was particularly struck by the variegated and the huge ones. David took lots of photos for me but, unfortunately, not all the plants were labelled. There was a meadow of European wildflowers like we had seen in the alpine walks we have taken this trip and an area of American prairie flowers that brought back a glimpse of our trip to US National Parks in 2008 especially the Echinacea. We ate some morning tea fruit in Goethe’s Garden, a strange modern area with painted, square steel pillars cut with German writings of the man and walked through an avenue of apple trees planted in celebration of 250 years of his life. Apparently, his mother had an apple orchard in Frankfurt. We wandered through a few greenhouses that contained plants form exotic locations like New Zealand, Chile and Australia. At one point, an American woman ahead of us, with an older German-speaking woman (possibly her mother) pointed out a banana tree with fruit high above our heads to a delighted child (possibly the grandchild). This amused us but it must be of great local interest too as the gardeners had made up a special sign for children pointing to the fruit.

The rose garden was particularly unspectacular especially when we compared it to our visit a couple of years ago to Adelaide’s botanic gardens where the rose display is fantastic. However, we were interested to see a marriage about to take place in the pavilion in the middle of the rose garden. Everyone rolled up including the groom pushing a small child in a stroller and a bride in traditional white bridal regalia. In numerous shop windows and on advertising boards we have seen photos of many German bridal dresses and they all were dreadful to our eyes. They like the flounces and elaborate skirts as well as the strapless versions and plunging necklines. Once assembled, they entered the pavilion and the couple sat side by side on chairs at the front. We gave them no further thought until we entered the restaurant for lunch.

Getting in and out of the restaurant was a little tricky. You had to take a ticket and insert it into a turnstile to get in and out. A sign explained in German and English that this was because the restaurant was accessible from the street without having paid the 5E entry fee. However, it was not clear how to get through the turnstile. Our cards did not seem to work until a German lady directed us away to the far right had side to a narrower turnstile that was not obvious to us from where we were standing. The was no seating left outside under the market umbrellas and we were a little sad about that as it forced us inside and away from the view of the garden and its lake. However, it turn out to be fortuitous as while we were eating lunch the rain began to pour down and the outside eaters were forced indoors.

There were several things that struck us about this restaurant. Firstly, the service was again slow and when we did finish our single course and asked for our bill, we waited another 10 minutes and nothing happened. David went up to the cash register and again asked for the bill. Another 5 minutes later the forgetful waiter returned with a short apology and our bill. It took over an hour sitting there to get some very small servings of food. David had the tomato salad with red onion, goat’s cheese and walnut dressing. When it arrived it was a small pile of sliced tomatoes with no visible red onions, some brown dressing and a round goat’s cheese cut in half. There was no real attempt to make it attractive to the eye and it should have appeared in the entrée category. I had ricotta cannelloni, which was also a basic serving of three smallish pieces sitting on some spinach. Fortunately, they supplied three different types of bread with butter, which enabled us to fill up. With 2 small orange juices and two pots of tea it came to over 40E (A$60). Despite this ridiculous cost, the restaurant was full!

One quarter of the inside area, just next to us, was occupied by another wedding party. It was weird. They were having their wedding reception in a public restaurant with everyone else. What was even weirder was the comings and goings of the bride and groom. After dessert, they got up to leave, hugged and said their goodbyes to their guest and went up the stairs to the entry area, with her parents, and disappeared. About 10 minutes later, I went to the restrooms and there was the bride standing around by herself outside the loos! Within 5 minutes both the bride and the groom reappeared and carried on talking to their guests. Then they went through the same procedure again. Everyone waved goodbye to them and, after the groom began to get inpatient with is talkative new wife who was reluctant to say goodbye, up the exiting steps they went again. Within five minutes the groom was back paying the cashier for the wedding breakfast! He then went through the ritual of saving goodbye again to the few young male stragglers still left at the tables. At this reception there were no speeches just people talking to each other at tables and then circulating to other tables before leaving. It seemed an odd affair.

Still, it was probably an aberration. As we returned to our hotel later in the day, the young couple from the rose garden were having photos taken in the park along the river front and then went to meet their guests at the Italian Restaurant overlooking the river that we had discounted as too expensive for dinner the night before. They had the whole top floor of the building set aside as a private reception area. This was much more satisfactory although undoubtedly much more expensive. Still, we silently wished Kristen and Torsten a happy married life together as we passed by the restaurant doors

From the botanic gardens, we again caught the train on a different line to the Chinese Gardens. By now the rain had stopped. These gardens proved a little disappointing. They were small, within another garden and colourless, It was all white, green and a dark purple brown. The stonework was all grey stone from the Faux dogs to the Chinese lanterns and cobblestones. In side the pavilion a man was sitting contemplating, and perhaps eyeing the huge grey fish in the large pond, but his peace was frequently shattered by three young ladies and an accompanying young man who laughed and giggled demanding he photography them posing here and then posing there.

We ended up walking back to the hotel although it was quite a distance and then sitting for over an hour on a bench at the river just people watching. After all, we had this some 5 hours until our plane left. I do like the Quay of Frankfurt. To me, it is the highlight of the city. I tried getting David to play a game of ‘Boast’ like I do with my ESOL students, but as with ‘I spy’, he was hopeless at it. We enjoyed watching a couple of groups of rowers. The first group were frankly our age or older and the cox was a very large woman at least in her 70s. It looked rather amusing and incongruous.

Our trip to the airport and up to the boarding gate was uneventful and our snack for tea before boarding was a stale bread roll with ham, cheese and a little salad. However, boarding was a large mix up and not what we expected from our previous experience with Singapore Airlines. Before boarding, they announced that we would be boarding shortly in a set pattern: First & Business, then Economy in rows from the back of the plane forward. Sounds sensible but nothing happened. No call for boarding was given. Then came a final announcement asking all the “remaining passengers to board immediately”. So everyone got up and tried to get on at once! Furthermore, they insist on serving First Class and Business Class passengers a drink as soon at they get to their seats making it almost impossible to squeeze past a hostess carrying a tray of drinks. I don’t think it would kill them to wait ten minutes for a drink especially as it took sometime before take off. We were late leaving.